Is Infinity War Review Embargo Cause for Concern?

11 months ago

If you’re excited to see some of the first reactions to Avengers: Infinity War, don’t hold your breath. Marvel Studios has been particularly careful about not letting spoilers out for this one, which has been made clear in their marketing campaign. The movie has just a single teaser and one full-length trailer, as opposed to the more common three trailers that precede such a big movie. To further assert how serious they are about keeping Infinity War‘s secret’s safe, it looks like the review embargo for the movie is going to bump up very near to the release date.

According to Fandango’s Erik Davis, Avengers: Infinity War social media reactions will be allowed to post on Monday, April 23, with full reviews going up online on April 24. That’s just a few days before the movie releases worldwide on April 27, since Marvel recently bumped up the release from the original May 4 date. Normally, this may be cause for concern, as a late review embargo can signal that a movie is of poor quality, but according to Davis’ Twitter posts, that’s not the case with this one. Here’s what he had to say about it.

“This just in: The official review and social media embargoes on #AvengersInfinityWar are as follows: Social Media Reactions: Monday 4/23, 10:30pmPT Reviews: Tuesday 4/24 3pmPT. From what I am hearing, and to answer a bunch of similar responses, this late embargo has nothing at all to do with concerns about the movie and everything to do with concerns about major reveals and plot twists. This is exactly how Disney treats its STAR WARS movies, btw.”

This is likely a very smart decision on Disney’s part. The fact of the matter is, most Marvel fans aren’t going to wait for reviews in order to decide whether or not to see Avengers: Infinity War. This is an event ten years in the making that they’re going to want to experience. Granted, it might cool down the hype fire a bit if the first wave of reviews is middling, but still. What might frustrate fans a great deal, on the other hand, is if massive spoilers, such as character deaths or twists in the movie, are revealed online well in advance of the release. No matter how good or bad Infinity War ends up being, that would upset the Marvel faithful a great deal. Perhaps no amount of positive reviews would be worth spoilers like that making their way online too early.

Currently, Avengers: Infinity War is obliterating pre-sale records for tickets, which were initially made available just after the debut of the latest trailer. The movie is expected to break records left and right, but having some positive word of mouth from critics could help give it that extra little boost ahead of its opening weekend. Positive word from both critics and fans has helped propel Black Panther to record-breaking heights. So much so that it’s actually going to be a very tough act to follow, even for something like Infinity War. Let’s just hope the Russo brothers really did manage to make something special. You can check out Erik Davis’ Twitter posts on the review embargo dates for yourself below.

From what I am hearing — and to answer a bunch of similar responses — this late embargo has nothing at all to do with concerns about the movie and everything to do with concerns about major reveals and plot twists. This is exactly how Disney treats its STAR WARS movies, btw